It was easy to believe that surviving half an hour against creatures so small wouldn't be hard.
The mind loved its deceptions.
It dulled the sharpness of fear, made danger seem harmless if it wore the right disguise. A rat instead of a wolf. A sparrow instead of a vulture. A child instead of a soldier. The pink things circling him looked like toys sprung from a nightmare carnival—round, plush, their stubby arms clapping as they giggled in that sugared, cloudlike world.
And for the briefest instant, Liu Xian's mind betrayed him. He thought to himself… I can take them.
